Our research develops a framework for modeling and virtualizing cultural heritage using a game-based method. Our approach to preserve culture and keep it alive in a meaningful and engaging context adopts a multi-modal and interactive model that immerses the explorer into authentic and semantically-rich environments. Major objectives included: (1) survey of people; (3) collection of documents related to Emirati life in the 1960's; (4) synthesis of a prototypical historical village; (5) conceptual and software modeling of such a village; (6) construction of an exploration tree and an interaction matrix;(7) full implementation of the game followed by formal and play-testing; and (8) analysis survey of the impact of the game on people.

We address software engineering issues related to modeling game-based learning systems to support the kind of independent learning that takes place outside the classroom. After evaluating existing game-based learning (GBL) frameworks and identifying GBL characteristics, we elaborate and express formally a set of functional requirements that capture the many dimensions of GBL systems. From these requirements, we propose a GBL system structure that consists of an instructional subsystem, a control subsystem,, and a game subsystem. We use this model as a foundation to develop a fully operational GBL prototype intended for children to learn about the concepts in many microworlds. The game has a knowledge acquisition phase and a challenge phase. In the learning phase, the learner interacts with various objects and learn about their characteristics. In the challenge phase, the player is presented with several challenges related to objects he/she met. This phase is used implicitly to assess the impact of the first phase on the learner. The positive results of an experiment to assess the impact of this game on concept acquisition are discussed.

Information wikis and especially Wikipedia are attracting an increasing attention for informal learning. The nature of wikis enables learners to freely navigate the learning environment and independently construct knowledge without being forced to follow a predefined learning path in accordance with the constructivist learning theory. To the best of our knowledge, no effective personalized content recommendation approach has yet been defined to support informal learning from wikis. Therefore, we propose a personalized content recommendation framework that extrapolates topical navigation graphs from learners' free navigation and integrates them with fuzzy thesauri for automatic and adaptive personalized content recommendations to support informal learning in wikis. We design user studies and conceptual knowledge rubric to evaluate the impact of personalized recommendations on learning from Wikipedia. Results show that the proposed personalized content recommendation framework generates highly relevant recommendations. Evaluation of informal learning reveals that users who use Wikipedia with personalized recommendations can achieve higher scores on conceptual knowledge assessment compared to those who use Wikipedia without recommendations. Learners who use Wikipedia with personalized recommendations are able to utilize larger number of concepts and are able to make comparisons and state relations between concepts.

We address the personalized/customized learning claim made by proponents of game-based learning (GBL), that is, GBL supports effectively learning personalization. Even though popular and fascinating, this claim remains unfounded. Indeed, in the literature on games, mentions of the multiplicity of exploration paths are put forth as examples giving players (learners) opportunities to tailor their learning experiences. This implicit assumption fails to demonstrate any kind of relationship between learning customization and playing games for learning. We explore some of the dimensions of the problem, describe a proposed framework, and use an example to demonstrate our approach.

Simulation software plays a very important role in education and research applications. They provide a safe, easy and flexible environment for developing and testing new methods. However developing a simulation software that reflects the exact behavior of the real system is a difficult and complicated task. In this paper we used hybrid process algebra to build a formal model that describes the exact behavior of the path planner module of autonomous mobile robots. The robot path planner is described by a powerful recursive process. The robot moves in four modes heading-regulation, move-to-goal, move-to-inter-goal, and obstacle-avoidance mode. Each motion mode is described by a process. The overall behavior of the path planner is the result of the communication between the four processes. The developed model is then implemented as simulator for mobile robots.

In this paper, we consider the problem of robot tracking and navigation toward a moving goal. The goal's maneuvers are not a priori known to the robot. Thus, off-line strategies are not effective. To model the robot and the goal, we use geometric rules combined with kinematics equations expressed in a polar representation. The intent of the strategy is to keep the robot between a reference point, called the observer, and the goal. We prove under certain assumptions that the robot navigating using this strategy reaches the moving goal successfully. In the presence of obstacles, the method is combined with an obstacle avoidance algorithm. The robot then moves in two modes, the navigation mode and the obstacle avoidance mode. Simulation of various scenarios highlights the efficiency of the method and provides an instructive comparison between the paths obtained for different reference points.

In this paper, we discuss a multi-robot rendezvous problem. The aim is to design decentralized control laws for N robots moving in the horizontal plane in order to reach an unpredictably moving point at the same time. The rendezvous problem is modeled using the relative kinematics equations. Our control laws are derived using the integration of geometrical rules with the relative kinematics model. Two approaches are used, namely reference-robot and leader-follower. In the first approach the robots move independently from each other, but they depend on the motion of the reference trajectory. In the second approach the motion of each following robot depends only on its leader, and the motion of one leader depends on the motion of the reference trajectory. Each follower has one leader. For both approaches, two control laws are derived for each robot. Our strategy is illustrated using various simulation examples.

In this paper we consider the problem of hunting an unpredictably moving prey using a group of robots. We elaborate a mathematical model for the tracking-navigation problem based on geometric rules. This model consists of systems of two differential equations describing the relative motion of the prey with respect to the robots. The control laws are decentralized and the robots move in different modes, namely: navigation-tracking mode, obstacles avoidance mode, cooperative collision avoidance, and circle formation. In the tracking-navigation mode, we use the deviated pursuit strategy, which consists of a closed loop control law based on geometric rules. The properties of this strategy are explored briefly. For obstacles and cooperative collision avoidance, a collision cone approach is used. Our method is illustrated using simulation.

This paper deals with the problem of modeling and controlling a robotic convoy. Guidance laws techniques are used to provide a mathematical formulation of the problem. The guidance laws used for this purpose are the velocity pursuit, the deviated pursuit, and the proportional navigation. The velocity pursuit equations model the robot's path under various sensors based control laws. A systematic study of the tracking problem based on this technique is undertaken. These guidance laws are applied to derive decentralized control laws for the angular and linear velocities. For the angular velocity, the control law is directly derived from the guidance laws after considering the relative kinematics equations between successive robots. The second control law maintains the distance between successive robots constant by controlling the linear velocity. This control law is derived by considering the kinematics equations between successive robots under the considered guidance law. Properties of the method are discussed and proven. Simulation results confirm the validity of our approach, as well as the validity of the properties of the method. Index Terms-Guidance laws, relative kinematics equations, robotic convoy, tracking.

Designs are expressed in terms of structure, behavior, objects, modules, and functions which, once consolidated, become design blueprints. This paper describes a formal framework for expressing, analyzing, and comparing multiple views of designs. The analysis of multiple designs or views using different design notations is proposed as a strategy to enhance design quality by providing a systematic identification of design defects and discrepancies. Views are formalized, analyzed independently, and then compared to each other. The type of design discrepancies identified are omission of information, incompatible information, and inconsistencies between views.

The development of correct specifications is a critical task in the software development process. An alternative approach for the development of specifications is described. The approach relies on a specification language for abstract data types and synthesis system. The system is capable of translating in abstract data type specification into an executable program. This process defines an alternative methodology that provides the necessary tools for the early testing of the specifications and for the development of prototypes and implementation models.

An examination of high-level language architectures reveals that some design considerations are based on inaccurate premises. This paper discusses some HLL architecture design misconceptions. Some features that should be considered in the design of HLL architectures are presented. Based on the HLL architecture design considerations, a methodology for quantifying architecture is proposed.